VEX DSN RADIO SCIENCE RAW DATA-ENT V1.0

This data set contains archival raw, partially processed, and ancillary/supporting radio science data acquired during the Extended Operations (ENT) phase of the Venus Express (VEX) mission using ground facilities of the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN). This data set will be combined with other data collected using antennas of the European Space Agency (ESA) and submitted to the ESA Planetary Science Archive. These observations were designed to determine the gravity field of Venus; density of the upper atmosphere through drag measurements; the temperature-pressure and absorption structure of the neutral Venus atmosphere; and the electron density profile of the ionosphere. No bistatic radar (BSR) and solar conjunction (SCO) observations were conducted during the ENT phase because of a 15 dB degradation in performance of the S-Band radio system in late 2006 (before ENT began). Of most interest in the ENT archive will be the Radio Science Receiver (RSR) files in the RSR directory, which provided the raw input to the radio occultation investigations of the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere, and the Orbit Data Files (ODFs), which provided the raw input to gravity and drag investigations. The ENT phase, for purposes of this archive, began after the completion of the Routine Operations Phase (2007-10-02, the end of the primary mission) and continued to the end of the VEX mission.